Norfolk council area

Selling Land in South Norfolk

Checked on 29 September 2026

South Norfolk built more of Greater Norwich's new homes than Broadland or Norwich in six of the seven years to 2024/25, with Wymondham, Hethersett and Cringleford on the A11 among its largest growth areas. Its housing land is counted with its two partners, at 4.85 years for the three councils together, and a separate plan for at least 1,200 homes in its villages reached main modifications in September 2026.

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In short

We buy land in South Norfolk and welcome land of every kind there: fields and paddocks, inherited land, old yards and larger holdings.

South Norfolk can show 4.85 years of housing land, short of the five years national policy expects. That shortfall is evidence of need which decisions must weigh, so a well placed field next to a town or village can make a case outside the local plan. It is not a guarantee. Land in the Green Belt faces stricter national tests. Its local plan dates from March 2024.

We look for 2 acres or more next to, or well related to, a town or village, with a road frontage or a way to get one.

The next step is a free, confidential desktop review. We tell you which route, if any, suits your land, with no obligation.

South Norfolk in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
111%
Measured jointly for the Greater Norwich Local Plan area (Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk), so this is the whole area's result. Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
4.85 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 1 April 2025, measured against the Greater Norwich Local Plan requirement for Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk together, 1,940 homes a year after past delivery, plus a 5% buffer. Stated by Broadland District, Norwich City and South Norfolk councils jointly, for the whole Greater Norwich Local Plan area (no separate figure is published for each council).
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
6,565
of 5,902 needed, April 2022 to March 2025, across the Greater Norwich Local Plan area (Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk)
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2024
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Latest step
Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045 started: calls for sites held February to March and 15 June to 13 July 2026 (479 sites received), scoping consultation held 17 August to 28 September 2026; the councils' timetable of 30 June 2026 puts Gateway 1 on 30 October 2026, consultation on content and evidence from 8 June to 20 July 2027, submission on 19 October 2028 and adoption on 30 April 2029; the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan is still under examination, with a main modifications consultation from 14 September 2026 and a closing date of 26 October 2026
Checked source

See how South Norfolk compares with the other 166 councils we cover

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

The Land We Look for in South Norfolk

Fields on the edge of Wymondham, Hethersett, Cringleford and Easton, outside the strategic gaps between them.
Land near the A11 between Cringleford and Wymondham that relates to the existing built edge.
Fields adjoining Long Stratton, Diss, Harleston, Poringland, Loddon and Hingham with a road frontage.
Paddocks and small fields next to the new settlement limits of village clusters.
Yards, former farm buildings and plots inside a village, judged under policy S4.
Larger holdings on the A11 and A140 for the next Greater Norwich plan, which the councils' timetable puts to adoption in April 2029.

We agree the price for your land at the start, above its current-use value, and carry every planning cost ourselves: surveys, the nutrient calculation, highways, drainage and the application or plan submission. You keep farming or letting the land until completion; should permission be refused, the land stays yours and nothing is owed. Each stage is set out on our how it works page.

The planning detail in full

The Southern Half of Greater Norwich, From Cringleford to Diss

South Norfolk runs from the edge of Norwich at Cringleford, Colney, Costessey, Easton and Trowse out through rural parishes and villages to its market towns: Wymondham, Long Stratton on the A140, and Diss and Harleston in the south. Poringland, Loddon and Hingham are key service centres for the villages. The council plans for all of this jointly with Broadland and Norwich, through the Greater Norwich Local Plan, adopted in March 2024.

No Green Belt. The joint plan found no exceptional circumstances for creating one in Greater Norwich, so no field here is judged under Green Belt policy.
The biggest share of the building. The councils' monitoring report for 2024/25 records 907 net new homes in South Norfolk that year, more than Broadland's 806 or Norwich's 180.
A joint delivery result. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 scores the whole plan area as one: 6,565 homes against 5,902 needed, 111%. That is Greater Norwich's result, and South Norfolk has no separate score of its own.
A joint supply figure. Housing land is counted for the three councils together too: 4.85 years from 1 April 2025.

Seven Years of Building, and One Count for Three Councils

The monitoring report gives the net new homes built in each council every year since the joint plan's period began in 2018:

Net homes delivered, Greater Norwich Local Plan Authority Monitoring Report 2024/25, table 9. Totals added up from the yearly figures.
Year	South Norfolk	Broadland	Norwich
2018/19	1,212	640	927
2019/20	917	663	495
2020/21	803	499	166
2021/22	916	654	320
2022/23	1,214	923	221
2023/24	885	891	564
2024/25	907	806	180
Seven years	6,854	5,076	2,873

Only in 2023/24 did Broadland edge ahead, by six homes. The report also explains why South Norfolk kept building. It finds that nutrient neutrality requirements "have reduced housing delivery locally", but that "schemes in Easton, Cringleford and Wymondham have been able to continue to deliver due to earlier planning consents being issued". South Norfolk also delivered 333 affordable homes in 2024/25.

Why Strong Building Still Leaves a Shortfall

South Norfolk has no land figure of its own, because supply, like delivery, is tested across the whole plan area. The council's monitoring page says the joint plan was adopted with 5.77 years of land, that this "is no longer the case" after the December 2024 framework, and that the "tilted balance" would be applied to housing applications as a result. The current joint figure of 4.85 years includes a 5% buffer. Our Norfolk page sets out how the joint count is built, and why a stricter buffer now applies to decisions across the area.

Under the August 2026 framework, that shortfall counts as evidence of unmet need for policy S5, to be weighed rather than treated as an automatic finding. S5 is the route for land well related to a settlement and served by infrastructure, and with no Green Belt it can reach any town or village edge. Inside a settlement, policy S4 applies instead, and permission is refused only if the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.

The council's development management policies of 2015 add a local test. Policy DM 1.3 allows development in the countryside outside development boundaries only where another of those policies allows it, or where a scheme shows overriding economic, social and environmental benefits. A field beyond a boundary meets that policy first, and the national shortfall is weighed alongside it.

The a11 Corridor: Cringleford, Hethersett and Wymondham

The biggest concentration of South Norfolk's planned growth sits along the A11 through Cringleford, Hethersett and Wymondham, the stretch the joint plan counts as part of the main Tech Corridor area: 5,629 homes between the three in the plan's figures, more than three times Long Stratton's 1,798. Wymondham received the largest allocation in the district under the earlier Joint Core Strategy, at least 2,200 homes. The plan's own housing growth figures for 2018 to 2038 show the pattern:

Growth figures from the Greater Norwich Local Plan strategy (figures rounded by the plan); sites from its strategic and main town site policies.
Place	Housing growth 2018 to 2038	Main allocation or plan
Wymondham	2,513	Joint Core Strategy allocation of at least 2,200 homes, plus Johnson's Farm (about 100) and north of Tuttles Lane (about 50)
Cringleford	1,765	Land north of the A11, about 1,060 homes on 52.56 hectares
Hethersett	1,351	Land north of Hethersett, about 1,369 homes on 65 hectares
Easton	963	Land south and east of Easton, about 962 homes
Long Stratton	1,798	Long Stratton Area Action Plan (May 2016), at least 1,800 homes
Harleston	803	Briar Farm, about 360 homes, and south of Spirkett's Lane, about 150
Diss	784	Frontier Agriculture, Sandy Lane, about 150, and the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan

Jobs sit on the same axis: at Colney, policy STR.05 sets aside 45.65 hectares next to Norwich Research Park "principally for an E (gii) Science Park development, hospital expansion", and the joint plan treats Hethel, home to Lotus Cars and the Hethel Engineering Centre, as a strategic employment location.

Gaps the Plans Keep Open

Policy DM 4.7 of the 2015 development management policies names two strategic gaps within the Norwich Policy Area, from Cringleford to Hethersett and from Hethersett to Wymondham, mapped between the settlements' development boundaries. Inside them, development is permitted only where it would not erode or otherwise undermine the openness of the gap. That is a high bar for new homes even while supply is short, so a field's position against the mapped gap matters more than its distance to the A11.

Long Stratton After Its Bypass, and Diss and Harleston in the South

The Long Stratton Area Action Plan of May 2016 allocates at least 1,800 homes, and the joint plan builds on it: it notes that the bulk of that plan's proposals are being taken forward in "two parallel planning applications that gained approval in September 2023". The road came next. The A140 Long Stratton Bypass opened to traffic on 11 August 2025, on a budget of £46.9 million shared by the Department for Transport, the Greater Norwich Growth Board, South Norfolk Council and developer contributions.

Land around Long Stratton beyond the action plan area is most likely to be judged through the next joint plan or, in the meantime, under policy S5.

Diss and Harleston

At Diss the joint plan allocates about 150 homes at Frontier Agriculture on Sandy Lane, alongside the Diss and District Neighbourhood Plan, a cross boundary plan made in October 2023 that now forms part of the development plan. Harleston's allocations include about 150 homes south of Spirkett's Lane and a mixed scheme at Briar Farm of about 360 homes and a 90-unit extra care scheme on 27.04 hectares.

Within the neighbourhood plan's area, its policies weigh on any application alongside the joint plan's. Our paddocks and small sites page covers the smaller plots these towns often yield.

At Least 1,200 Homes for the Villages, Through a Plan of Their Own

The joint plan requires at least 1,200 homes across South Norfolk's villages but, unlike the rest of Greater Norwich, does not choose those sites itself. As the council's Cabinet report of 16 June 2025 put it, the council "chose to meet the requirement of at least 1,200 homes across South Norfolk's villages in a subsidiary plan": the South Norfolk Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan, which chooses the sites for those village homes.

Submission, 4 August 2025. The Cabinet report counted 58 sites totalling 1,320 homes, a buffer of 120 over the 1,200 required, to give more certainty that the plan would pass examination.
Hearings, January 2026. The hearing sessions before the inspector, D Reed, began on 13 January 2026.
Main modifications, September 2026. The inspector proposed 70 main modifications, and the council's examination page opened a consultation on them on 14 September 2026, which it said would close on 26 October 2026, stressing that the plan "is still under examination".
Report and adoption. The inspector reports, and the final decision to adopt rests with elected councillors.

The proposed main modifications recast the plan's housing table: 1,084 to 1,089 homes on new village cluster allocations, 2015 allocations carried forward and dropped cancelling out at 10 homes each way, and 172 on neighbourhood plan sites, a total of 1,256 to 1,261. That table splits out sources the Cabinet report's count of 58 sites and 1,320 homes did not, and neither document reconciles the two, so the difference is not simply homes removed. Both clear the 1,200 required, and whether a given site changed is set out in the modifications, cluster by cluster. The first modification also redraws settlement limits to take in the allocated sites.

That matters beyond the allocated sites: the field next to a new allocation may now sit on the settlement edge, which bears on whether it is well related to the settlement under policy S5. A village field put forward and not chosen still has routes, through the next joint plan, the shortfall, rural exception sites for local affordable homes, or plots inside the limit under policy S4.

From the Village Clusters Report to a New Joint Plan in 2029

The Joint Result and the Joint Count

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and the next edition will again score Greater Norwich as one. At 111%, the area clears every threshold. Were the joint result to fall below 95%, the three councils would need an action plan; below 85%, a 20% buffer would apply to the supply count; and under 75%, policy S5 would treat unmet need as evidenced.

The councils planned to start the next annual update, for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031, in spring 2026. By 29 September 2026 their monitoring pages still listed the April 2025 assessment as the latest, so 4.85 years, with its 5% buffer, remains the published figure. For decisions made since 1 July 2026 the stricter buffer set out on our Norfolk page applies, so the gap an application is weighed against is wider than that headline.

Two Plans on Two Timetables

The village clusters plan comes first: after the main modifications consultation, which opened on 14 September 2026 with a closing date of 26 October 2026, the inspector reports and councillors decide. Behind it, the joint plan is being replaced. The councils' timetable of June 2026, reviewed without change in August, sets out the stages:

Greater Norwich Local Plan 2045 timetable, June 2026. The dates are the councils' and may move.
Stage	Date in the councils' timetable
Scoping consultation	17 August to 28 September 2026
Gateway 1 self-assessment	30 October 2026
Consultation on the plan's content and evidence	8 June to 20 July 2027
Gateway 2	2 November 2027
Consultation on the proposed plan	3 April to 29 May 2028
Gateway 3	6 September 2028
Submission and examination	19 October 2028 to 21 March 2029
Adoption	30 April 2029

A site with its access, drainage and landscape evidence ready before the June 2027 consultation is best placed; our guide to calls for sites and plan stages explains what each stage asks for.

Reorganisation is under review. On 7 September 2026 the government launched a review and withdrew the decisions it had taken for Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Hampshire, with the May 2027 elections to be held on existing boundaries. South Norfolk Council therefore goes on deciding applications and taking both plans forward.

Questions About Land in South Norfolk

My field next to a village was put forward for the Village Clusters plan but not chosen. Is that the end of it?

No. The joint supply is short of five years, so land adjoining a village with services can still make a case under policy S5. The next Greater Norwich plan, rural exception sites and plots inside the settlement limit are other routes.

The land supply figure covers Norwich and Broadland too. Does it still help my land near Diss?

Yes. The one figure for the three councils applies to an application anywhere in South Norfolk, from Cringleford to Harleston. What then decides a site is how well it relates to the town and whether its roads and drainage can cope.

Is my land between Hethersett and Wymondham ruled out?

Land inside a strategic gap faces a policy meant to keep the settlements apart, so housing there is hard to justify. Land on the settlement side of the gap boundary is judged like any other edge site. We check the mapped boundary first.

Now the Long Stratton bypass is open, will more land around the town be allocated?

The bulk of the action plan's proposals are being built out under two applications approved in September 2023, so new land around Long Stratton would come through the next Greater Norwich plan or through an application weighed against the joint shortfall. We look at which is realistic for your field.

When should larger land be ready for the next Greater Norwich plan?

The councils' timetable puts the consultation on content and evidence at 8 June to 20 July 2027, the proposed plan at 3 April to 29 May 2028 and adoption on 30 April 2029. Land with its access, drainage, landscape and nutrient evidence ready before 2027 is in the strongest position, and where we take a site on, we pay for that work.

What price will you pay for my land?

We agree a fixed price with you at the start, before any planning work begins, and it is set above what your land is worth today. We cannot name a figure before we have looked at your land, because it depends on the site itself: its size, its access, how many homes it could take and the costs that come off land value, such as affordable housing, road works and drainage. After the free desktop review we can talk about a price, and once agreed it is written into the agreement.

When would I be paid?

You receive the agreed price on completion, once planning permission has been secured. The agreement sets out the milestones along the way, and it continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided. Until completion you carry on using your land as you do now, and we pay for all of the planning. If permission is not granted, you keep your land and owe nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in South Norfolk

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly.

We reply within 2 working days, by phone or email, whichever you prefer.
The desktop review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
If we agree terms, we pay for all of the planning, which on a larger site can reach £300,000.

About your land

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.